Jerome Wetzel is the Chief Television Critic for Seat42F and a regular contributing reviewer on Blogcritics. He also appears on The Good, The Bad, and the Geeky podcast and Let's Talk TV With Barbara Barnett.

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Sunday, May 4, 2014

ONCE UPON A TIME is "A Curious Thing"

Article originally written for Seat42F.

This week’s ONCE UPON A TIME on ABC, titled “A Curious
Thing,” is the Big Reveal episode in which we find out who enacted the latest
Dark Curse to bring everyone back to Storybrooke and why. It’s also the hour in
which the curse is lifted and a mini-showdown with the villain is had. So it’s
action-packed and full of plot twists.

It makes sense to start in the Enchant Forest during the
missing year when talking about “A Curious Thing.” Our heroes know that Zelena
(Rebecca Mader) wants Snow’s (Ginnifer Goodwin) baby for her end game and are
clueless about how to stop her. After learning from Belle (Emilie de Ravine)
that Rumple (Robert Carlyle) has been resurrected, they break into Rumple’s
castle to see if he can help them. Rumple is nuts, though, so his words seem
like ramblings.

There is just enough sanity leaking through from Rumple to
provide a clue as to who might be able to offer assistance – Glinda the Good
(Sunny Mabrey, The Client List). Snow, Charming (Josh Dallas), and Regina (Lana
Parrilla) set off to find her at once. Glinda, however, can’t defeat Zelena,
telling them that they need someone who is very powerful, full of light magic.
Meaning they need Emma (Jennifer Morrison).

Unfortunately, the only way to get Emma back is to enact a
new Dark Curse. Regina can’t do it, as Henry (Jared S. Gilmore) is whom she
loves most and he isn’t in the realm. So the task falls to Snow, who must kill
Charming, her true love. He willingly sacrifices himself for their baby, but
before the curse can sweep over the land, Zelena shows up and drops in a potion
that will wipe all of their memories (she herself has a brew to protect her own
mind). Thus, we have the Storybrooke of these most recent episodes.

Of course Emma is the Savior again. She is always the one
needed, a baby born of pure love. Emma is always the key to everything in ONCE
UPON A TIME, so it’s not a big surprise that her family needs her again to save
the day.

It is troubling, though, that Snow has it in herself to cast
the Dark Curse. After all, she’s supposed to be the truly good person, and
while she’s flirted with darkness in the past, it has never suited her. Still,
the way the writers carefully handle the situation, making it all about love,
not evil, protects Snow’s character as it unfolds.

Is it a little too easy that Snow can have Regina split her
heart so that Charming can live? Yes. It seems more like the type of plot twist
invented after the fact. Having written themselves into a corner, the scribes
come up with this clever contrivance to keep the story going as they have it.
It works, but it’s also slightly disappointing, a little bit too easy. Though,
to be fair, with only three hours left, ONCE UPON A TIME doesn’t have time to
stretch out Charming’s peril.

In Storybrooke, Emma, Snow, Charming, and Regina come to the
conclusion that Henry’s memories must be revived to break the curse and restore
everyone else’s. For some reason, only Snow can find the magic storybook, looking
in a place Emma just searched. That bit is weird, but “A Curious Thing” doesn’t
have time to delve into it, racing to get the book into Henry’s hands.

Meanwhile, Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and Smee (Christopher
Gauthier) are trying to spirit Henry out of town because Zelena has vowed to
kill the boy if Hook doesn’t kiss Emma and take away her powers. Zelena and her
monkeys act to prevent the escape, but only Emma showing up and using her magic
can drive off the Wicked Witch… for now.

Hopefully Emma will get over being mad at Hook. While Hook
should have told her what is going on, at least he does his best to protect her
son, proving he’s a noble man, which, funnily enough, confuses Smee. And while
no one trusts Hook because they didn’t send him to find Emma and he insists
they did, it will have to come out that Neal (Michael Raymond-James) is behind
that development eventually.

Does it bother anyone else that, during the battle, the good
guys are killing flying monkeys left and right? These are their friends, like
Little John, Aurora (Sarah Bolger), Phillip (Julian Morris), and others! Our
heroes know that Zelena curses people into being monkeys. Shouldn’t they be
attempting less lethal means in the hopes that once Zelena is defeated her
victims can be restored?

Henry is super confused by the monkeys’ appearance, but
touching the story book restores his mind. Soon after, Regina plants True
Love’s Kiss on his forehead, and everyone remembers everything. Again, this all
seems just a little too easy, but given the pacing of “A Curious Thing” and how
little time is left in the season, it’s necessary to move past it. I’d rather
they go a little fast that too slow right at this juncture.

It’s great that Regina is the one who kisses Henry and
breaks the curse. This only reinforces her redemption arc. In fact, everything
about Regina in this hour, including what is going on in the past, screams that
she’s a good guy now. She’s put her evil ways behind her and is happily in love
with Robin Hood (Sean Maguire). Might this be enough to make her magic light,
combining with Emma to defeat Zelena?

There have been more interesting character-driven episodes
of ONCE UPON A TIME, but in terms of moving along the current story, “A Curious
Thing” is a solid hour, full of revelations and run-ins. It’s exciting enough
to get past a couple of little gripes about a too-easy solution, and overall, I
really enjoyed it.

ONCE UPON A TIME only has two weeks left in its third
season. Tune in Sundays at 8 p.m. ET for the conclusion.